Ranger REG
Explorer
Amen.Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
Wither Star Wars d20?
- Thread starter wingsandsword
- Start date
Kanegrundar
Explorer
I remember when D20 Star Wars was coming out and (after the cries of the D6 fans died down) we were talking about what we wanted to see for the new game, there were numerous responses and then there were flamewars because SW means vastly different things to different people. Just take a look at this thread and you'll see that.
In all honesty though, I think the SW line was doomed to be a short line anyway. There is a rather finite amount of material to stat up before you're down to what WEG had to do, start creating totally new material that hasn't appeared in SW canon before. Either that, or start writing sourcebooks based on obscure references only hinted at in the books and movies; like writing about a planet that was only mentioned once briefly in one of the movies. Then again, WotC is already doing that to an extent. Not that that's bad or anything, but it's not to make many SW fans happy since it's simply not canon.
New material is too slow in coming out for SW in the way of movies and books to really fuel new sourcebooks. Even when a new book comes out for the EU, it's still usually not enough to write a sourcebook on. SW has played out for the time being. Ep 3 could (dare I say should) fuel another book out of WotC, but after that, what? We've got just about all we need out of the Yuuzhan Vong beyond any new bio-items bought out in any new books in the Vong invasion series. I would like to see Tales of the Jedi and KotoR material, even if much of it is already done. There is still enough material there for another sourcebook, even if it is only 64 pages. Give us another era book for the New Republic and I think that's all that we'll need.
One question though: Does WotC have rights to reprint WEG material? If so, there are a couple gems there that coudl be mined and added to any new material to beef up a sourcebook. Sure, it's crappy for those that already own WEG stuff, but not all of us do.
Kane
In all honesty though, I think the SW line was doomed to be a short line anyway. There is a rather finite amount of material to stat up before you're down to what WEG had to do, start creating totally new material that hasn't appeared in SW canon before. Either that, or start writing sourcebooks based on obscure references only hinted at in the books and movies; like writing about a planet that was only mentioned once briefly in one of the movies. Then again, WotC is already doing that to an extent. Not that that's bad or anything, but it's not to make many SW fans happy since it's simply not canon.
New material is too slow in coming out for SW in the way of movies and books to really fuel new sourcebooks. Even when a new book comes out for the EU, it's still usually not enough to write a sourcebook on. SW has played out for the time being. Ep 3 could (dare I say should) fuel another book out of WotC, but after that, what? We've got just about all we need out of the Yuuzhan Vong beyond any new bio-items bought out in any new books in the Vong invasion series. I would like to see Tales of the Jedi and KotoR material, even if much of it is already done. There is still enough material there for another sourcebook, even if it is only 64 pages. Give us another era book for the New Republic and I think that's all that we'll need.
One question though: Does WotC have rights to reprint WEG material? If so, there are a couple gems there that coudl be mined and added to any new material to beef up a sourcebook. Sure, it's crappy for those that already own WEG stuff, but not all of us do.
Kane
Ranger REG
Explorer
Meh. My desire is Ultimate Starships. Reprinting WEG material -- if that is even legally possible, despite ridiculing WotC as a rehasher and without originality juice on their part -- would only reach a smaller portion of an already small fanbase.Kanegrundar said:
Sketchpad
Adventurer
I dunno ... I think reprinting/updating the Elrood campaign would be great, as would some of the material from one of the Outer Rim books (mind you, I don't have the Geonosis book atm so they may've covered that).
I've also wanted to see USofG, but I think a campaign beyond Living Force would be interesting as well. Maybe something set during the Clone Wars? Or better yet, how about a campaign set during KotOR, that way they could make a FR sized campaign book for it
I also think a Planetary survey book could be neat, expanding on some of the planet building rules and including detailed weather rules (as per the D&D line). maybe a bunch of planets and possibly some new PreClasses.
The problem with WotC's varient of the SWRPG is that they don't think that far out of the box and I believe this is why people loved the WEG version over the current one.
I've also wanted to see USofG, but I think a campaign beyond Living Force would be interesting as well. Maybe something set during the Clone Wars? Or better yet, how about a campaign set during KotOR, that way they could make a FR sized campaign book for it
I also think a Planetary survey book could be neat, expanding on some of the planet building rules and including detailed weather rules (as per the D&D line). maybe a bunch of planets and possibly some new PreClasses.
The problem with WotC's varient of the SWRPG is that they don't think that far out of the box and I believe this is why people loved the WEG version over the current one.
Kanegrundar
Explorer
I'm not so sure that mining WEG material (if at all possible) would only reach a smaller audience than it already has. I'd say that a rather large segment of the SW D20 players are new to SW roleplaying and maybe even roleplaying in general and don't have any WEG material. After all, the WEG stuff has been OOP for quite a while now (actual dates escape me). I doubt that most gamers would even know that WEG material was even in use especially if it was put into sourcebooks in small segments.
As for love of the WEG version, eh. I hated it. Jedis were unstoppable, and everyone else played second fiddle to them. The rules were wonky at times when dealing with Force powers and overall detracted from the game, in my own experience, mind you. The D20 version, especially with the revision, is a much better designed game that does a dang good job of capturing that SW feel. (All, my opinion, of course.) Much of the WEG original material wasn't that great. I agree the Elrood stuff was pretty good, but the Corporate Sector stuff was bland to outright crap, IMO. I wouldn't mind if WotC started to add to the SW mythos with books totally filled with material not found in SW canon, but I would want it to be more inspiried than the WEG material.
Kane
As for love of the WEG version, eh. I hated it. Jedis were unstoppable, and everyone else played second fiddle to them. The rules were wonky at times when dealing with Force powers and overall detracted from the game, in my own experience, mind you. The D20 version, especially with the revision, is a much better designed game that does a dang good job of capturing that SW feel. (All, my opinion, of course.) Much of the WEG original material wasn't that great. I agree the Elrood stuff was pretty good, but the Corporate Sector stuff was bland to outright crap, IMO. I wouldn't mind if WotC started to add to the SW mythos with books totally filled with material not found in SW canon, but I would want it to be more inspiried than the WEG material.
Kane
Narfellus
First Post
This is a totally off the wall wet dream, but i wish Lucas would license out the rights to SW to other directors and writers, all with his final approval of course as to what becomes canon. It won't happen, but it would be nice. There would be a neverending supply of source material and dark Jedi fun.
Breakdaddy
First Post
Narfellus said:
Maybe when he dies others will be allowed to license the Star Wars universe. Fat chance until then.
Sketchpad said:
While I'm not privy to any of the license details so I'm purely guessing, I'd be surprised if the terms allowed WOTC to think out of the box very much. When WEG first got the license, the three movies were basically all there was. So the license they got was very open-ended, they had a lot of freedom in terms of what they wanted to cover and what new stuff they wanted to add. WOTC got the license under much different circumstances, the prequel trilogy was actively in development and the post-Rebellion era had been pretty well defined in the novels. I would imagine that Lucas specifically wanted them to tie their products to the new movies as part of an integrated marketing strategy, and didn't want them to mess with any of the other licensed parts of the history. So they probably don't have the same freedom to do their own thing as WEG.
Ranger REG
Explorer
You mean they should offer a radical game system apart from d20? Isn't that like something TSR have done that nearly did them in? It's not like I have seen WEG offer RPG products other than their own in-house d6 System.Sketchpad said:
Ranger REG
Explorer
Not while his children are alive and declared heir-trustees of his trademarks. It's understandable. If I have something like that, I'd like to entrust it to my children to secure their future when I'm gone.Breakdaddy said:
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